Holing up with Kerberos at Fort Zombie Preview - PAGE 1

The official unveiling of Kerberos Production's Halloween title Fort Zombie was made at PAX 2009 as they announced details about the upcoming title. Fort Zombie puts you into the shoes of Ben Riley, a zombie apocalypse survivor who is sick of running and decides to make a stand in the small town of Piety Indiana. The game is a $10 download coming from GamersGate and puts a strategy twist on the regular mayhem of zombie games.

Fort Zombie lurched its way to life while creators of the Sword of the Stars games were hard at work on a space RPG called North Star. In the midst of working on the third-person elements of the game, they spun the engine off to create Fort Zombie. We just paid Kerberos' Chris Stewart and Martin Cirulis another visit to catch up on Fort Zombie (you can find our original coverage for Kerberos' SotS expansion here) and spend some time playing the finished game. But first, a few words from a zombie-apocalypse ready Chris Stewart.

Neo: How scripted is the rising tide of zombies and all the random events you can discover as you play the game and discover the story?

Martin: Beyond the two-week time limit before the final zombie attack the game isn't scripted at all. In fact, all the survivors you can find and rescue, even the very useful 'special' characters, are random and there are more than you can find in any single playing of the game.

Each survivor is a unique character though, with their own backstory about their own survival and their insights into the cause of the zombie infestation. They also have their strengths and weaknesses - like 92 year-old Agatha Marian Chambers, the ex-sheriff of Piety. She was in jail for gunning down a wheelchair-bound nursing home neighbor who went zombie and lurched out of the chair at her - then she broke out amidst the chaos. She has crazy gun skills, but runs like a 92 year-old lady. 

Neo: How many random events can we expect? And how drastic will their effects be?

Chris: Random events come from the city itself - the layout, clusters of zombies and how your actions can lead you through them.

Martin: For example, if I find a weapon store and spot a typical soldier zombie through a window I know I can take it out with the weapons I have. So, I charge in only to find two more soldier zombies lurking around a corner. I take out the first zombie, only to have the other two blow the back of my head off.

Next - taking on the big-bad menace behind all the zombies?